Agenda and minutes

The Mayor welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced the Members’ present.

The Mayor addressed the meeting in respect of the challenges we face as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the biggest shock to our communities and our economy in living memory.

It was proposed that whilst we are slowly emerging out of lockdown the threat very much remains.

The Mayor placed on record his gratitude to all our colleagues in Public Health, in each local council, in our care services and in our primary care system that each and every day step up to the plate.

It was noted that later in the meeting consideration will be given to the region’s £1.7bn Recovery Action Plan, a critically important piece of work, that sets the tone for what needs to be an ambitious and all-encompassing response. As we continue to press the Government for more financial support to tackle the crisis we have, the Mayor confirmed he is pleased to say, we have been successful in securing some additional, short-term and targeted resources to help stimulate the economy.

The Mayor informed the meeting that the House of Lords recently debated the Mayoral Combined Authority Devolution Order. It was noted the Devolution Deal once approved will bring the region an additional £30m a year of resources to bring to bear on our Covid-19 economic response but this is only a start.

The Mayor noted he is extremely concerned that emergency funding from government that is keeping our tram services running is due to expire on the 3rd August with no indication from the Government that further support is coming. The Mayor provided assurances he is both pressing government for additional funding whilst planning for the worst. The truth is the only public body capable of managing a national crisis like this is central government.  Long-term sustained structural funding of the network is what is required.

To determine whether there are any additional items of business which by reason of special circumstances the Chair is of the opinion should be considered at the meeting; the reason(s) for such urgency to be stated.

The Monitoring Officer informed the meeting of the means by which the meeting would be conducted to be compliant with appropriate legislation and pursuant of the SCR’s own Constitution.

To identify where resolutions may be moved to exclude the public and press.  (For items marked * the public and press may be excluded from the meeting.)

RESOLVED, that item 23 (Welcome to Yorkshire Investment) be considered in the absence of the public and press.

To identify whether there are any items of business that apply only to the South Yorkshire Members of the Mayoral Combined Authority, ie, where it would not be appropriate for non-SY Members to have voting rights.

It was agreed voting rights may not be conferred on the non-Constituent members in respect of agenda items 12, 15, 16, 19 and 23 as the matters concern the Constituent area only.

Declarations of Interest by individual Members in relation to any item of business on the agenda.

Cllr Read declared a non-pecuniary interest in the matters to be discussed at agenda item 13 (LGF Capital Programme Approvals) by virtue of being Leader of the sponsoring Authority.

Mayor Jones requested clarity in respect of whether her Directorship position on the Welcome to Yorkshire Board constituted a non-Pecuniary interest and would preclude her voting rights in respect of agenda item 23. It was agreed voting rights may not be conferred and resolved to consider the matter further at the appropriate point on the agenda.

None.

A 50 signature petition (initially received in March 2020 but because of the coronavirus crisis held in abeyance) was received from Mr Richard Johnson

The petitioner requested the continuance of the No 18 Dinnington to Doncaster Powell’s Bus Service which was reported as being stopped on 26/04/20.

The Mayor thanked the petitioner for submitting the petition and instructed officers of the Passenger Transport Executive to respond on the Authority’s behalf.

The Mayor also asked the petitioner to note the associated matters to be raised under the Bus Review report.

Mayor Jones offered her support to the people of Doncaster facing any cuts in public transport provision.

A public question was received from Mr Nigel Slack and delivered as follows: “The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on world trade and the footfall of our local retail centres (Centre for Cities estimate only a 50% or less recovery in retail footfall since lockdown was eased), amongst other things, was last estimated to be a drop in GDP of some 20%. A second wave of the virus, which is almost inevitable with the poor response of HMG, followed or even concurrent with the disaster of a 'No Deal' Brexit could devastate all sectors of business in the last quarter of the 2020/21 financial year.

SCR & the Mayor have already indicated a preparedness to look at measures of success that are different from growth and dare I say greed in the future. The new normal that is being bandied about may make this an urgent consideration for SCR financial support and investment over the next few years.

What preparations have been made by SCR for this potential refocussing of priorities and how will this be reflected in the Economic Plan for the region”?

In response, the Mayor noted that prior to the pandemic the SCR had undertaken significant work with partners and stakeholders to develop and draft a new Strategic Economic Plan for the Sheffield City Region.  This outlined our ambition and approach for sustainable and inclusive economic growth over the medium and long terms. 

As a result of the pandemic, we postponed our public consultation on the draft Strategic Economic Plan and focused our attention and effort on analysing the likely impact of COVID-19 on our businesses, communities and residents.  The result of this analysis is the Economic Renewal Action Plan, which we will be discussing at Agenda Item 11.  The Renewal Action Plan proposes a set of priorities for supporting economic recovery in the short and medium term, with a view to growing the economy over the longer term. 

It was noted we have worked with partners to build an understanding of what the ‘new normal’ will be for people, businesses and places, based on a broad range of socio-economic evidence and data.  We’re not just analysing data on productivity, GVA and unemployment, we are also looking at data on health and analysis on which geographical areas and groups of people have been most adversely affected by COVID-19.

Both the Strategic Economic Plan and Renewal Action Plan propose a wider set of ambitions and measures for the ‘new normal’ in the City Region.

The Mayor thanked Mr Slack for his question.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 1^st June were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

A report was received regarding the Renewal Action Plan (RAP).

It was noted the development of the Sheffield City Region (SCR) Renewal Action Plan (RAP) is an important move to mitigate the worst effects of the Covid-19 crisis and ensure a strong and timely recovery towards a more resilient economy and society.  It was confirmed the RAP is aligned with the Economic Plan (SEP) and will act as a bridge to the SEP, setting out the more immediate term actions we need to take and should allow us to reset and confirm our priorities and the sequence of interventions needed in the medium to longer term.

It was noted the RAP has been designed with three linked horizons in mind: Relief (immediate term), Recovery (medium term) and Resilience (long term) and that the interventions in the draft RAP developed so far are designed to be delivered within the next 12 to 18 months.

The meeting was provided with a detailed explanation of the substantive themes contained within the plan.

RESOLVED, that the Board:

1. Endorses the draft SCR Renewal Action Plan

Agrees to take forward the delivery planning through the appropriate Thematic Boards.

A report was received to request approval to accept the Careers and Enterprise (CEC) Careers Hub Grant and Working Win Health Led Trial extension grant for 6 months from 01st November 2020 until 31st March 2021 and seeks delegated authority be given to the S73 Officer in conjunction with the Head of Paid Service and Monitoring Officer to enter into legal agreements for the schemes.

RESOLVED, that the Authority:

1. Approves acceptance of the CEC Careers Hub grant allocation for £146,000.

2. Approves acceptance of the Working win extension funding for 6 months and accepts the grant of £500,000.

Delegates authority to the S73 Officer in conjunction with the Head of Paid Service and Monitoring Officer to accept the grants of £646,000 subject to their acceptance of the terms of the agreements when these are received.

A report was received to seek approval of one scheme with a total value of £2.45m Local Growth Fund (LGF) for Greasbrough Road Improvements – Rotherham and to seek delegated authority to the Head of Paid Service in consultation with the S73 and Monitoring Officer to enter into legal agreements for the schemes.

It was reported the grant will be used to fund the preparation costs associated with the design development of the preferred option and the construction of the scheme outlined above.

RESOLVED, that the Authority:

1. Approves progression of Greasbrough Road Improvements to full approval and award of £2.45m grant to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council subject to the conditions set out in the Appraisal Panel Summary Table attached at Appendix A

Delegates authority to the Head of Paid Service in consultation with the S73 and Monitoring Officer to enter into legal agreements for the schemes covered above.

A report was received to provide an update on the recent announcements for devolved funding to support major employment and housing development in the SCR, and request that the MCA agrees to accept the funding and supports the proposals for accelerating delivery of the infrastructure and housing schemes.

The meeting was informed that on the 30th June 2020, the Government launched ‘A New Deal for Britain’ which it set out the first steps in stimulating the economy following Covid 19 pandemic and that as part of this strategy, £73.6m of funding (£33.6m (Major Capital Schemes) and £40m (Brownfield Fund)) has been allocated to the SCR MCA for supporting immediately deliverable infrastructure schemes and to support the development of housing schemes on brownfield land.

RESOLVED, that the Board:

1. Approves acceptance of the £33.6m Getting Building Fund and grant allocation to deliver the proposed programme (outlined in Annex 1 to this report).

2. Approves acceptance of the £40m Brownfield Fund grant allocation to deliver a programme of housing schemes on brownfield land for 2020-25, subject to agreement on the terms and conditions set out in section 2.6.

3. Approves a new approach to enable earlier release of scheme development costs (as set out in section 2.8) to accelerate the development and delivery of the infrastructure schemes over the next 18 months.

Delegates authority to the S73 Officer in conjunction with the Head of Paid Service and Monitoring Officer to accept the grants of £73.6m subject to their acceptance of the terms of the agreements when these are received.

A report was received to outline the proposed framework for how the MCA will respond to the Bus Review and the associated work programme.

Members were reminded the Bus Review investigated the underlying causes of service and patronage decline and gathered evidence from multiple sources including interviews with stakeholders and a public survey, to which 5,900 people responded. It was noted the Review highlighted the need for a leader for buses who could drive forward improvements to the system, a role that has been adopted by the Mayor.

RESOLVED, that the Authority:

1. Notes the findings of the Bus Review and the proposed recommendations.

2. Agrees the principles for how a response to the Review will be developed.

Agrees the proposed 7-point improvement plan along with the associated timescales and delivery arrangements.

The Mayor welcomed Dame Sarah Storey, the SCR Active Travel Commissioner, to the meeting.

Dame Sarah introduced a report setting out the Design Principles for Active Travel Infrastructure to be adopted for SCR investment, and to set out arrangements for the delivery of the DfT’s Emergency Active Travel Fund Tranche 2 in the Sheffield City Region.

It was noted the proposal is for the MCA to adopt high level Design Principles. We are awaiting detailed national infrastructure design advice from the DfT which will be issued this summer. It is proposed that the SCR standards meet or exceed those from DfT as schemes are funded mainly through Government funding, including the Transforming Cities Fund, which must meet their minimum criteria.

It was confirmed the SCR Transport Board endorsed this proposal at its meeting on the 3rd July.

RESOLVED, that the Authority:

1. Agrees the design principles and the approach to creating inclusive active travel infrastructure for adoption in SCR infrastructure investment.

2. Approves the submission of proposals to DfT under the Emergency Active Travel Fund Phase 2 of c.£7m by Friday 7th August

3. Approves the acceptance of the Emergency Active Travel Fund Phase 2 grant from the DfT subject to its award and terms and conditions

Agrees delegated authority to be given to the Head of Paid Service in consultation with the s73 and Monitoring Officer to enter into legal agreements with the four Local Authorities for their respective schemes for Phase 2 schemes.

A report was received requesting the endorsement of both Doncaster’s Statement of Common Ground and a separate but complementary Statement of Common Ground prepared by all Local Planning Authorities in the City Region.

It was noted Councils preparing local plans are under a statutory “Duty to Cooperate” with other relevant bodies in order to encourage and enable strategic planning across local boundaries.

RESOLVED that the Authority endorses both the Doncaster Statement of Common Ground and the Local Planning Authorities’ Joint Statement of Common Ground and agrees for the MCA to be a signatory to both Statements.

A report was received to present the final SCR Energy Strategy for approval, including the amendments previously agreed by the LEP Board.

It was noted the Energy Strategy is part of a wider strategy for environmental sustainability and response to the Climate and Environmental Emergency declared by the Mayoral Combined Authority in November 2019.

RESOLVED, that the Authority:

1. Approves the SCR Energy Strategy as recommended by both the SCR Infrastructure Board and the LEP Board.

Notes the proposed next steps for implementation of the Strategy.

A report was received to inform Members that following the consent of the Constituent Councils, and the MCA to the detail of the devolution deal, the MCA’s Constitution needed to be updated to reflect the provisions of the deal and the legislative Order that implements the deal.

The report therefore set out the changes to the Constitution and sought the

endorsement of the MCA to the changes.

RESOLVED, that the Authority approves the changes to the Constitution detailed in the report and the track changed version of the Constitution appended to the report in order to reflect the devolution of further functions and the changes to governance set out in the Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield Combined Authority (Functions and Amendment) Order 2020 (“Order”), noting such changes take effect from the date that the Order becomes legislation and has effect.

A report was received to summarise the forecast impact of Covid-19 on the MCA’s financial position after the first two periods of the financial year.

A progress update on the external audit of the 2019/20 statutory accounts was also provided.

The meeting was informed that in common with partners and businesses across the region, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruption to the MCA’s financial affairs. This report therefore sought to highlight the impact of that disruption, and the steps being taken to protect both operations and our financial position.

RESOLVED, that the Authority:

1. Notes the year to date revenue and capital positions of the SCR Group as at 31 May and that the Q1 report will be received at the September 2020 meeting.

2. Notes the forecast impact of Covid-19

Notes the progress update on the external audit of the 2019/20 statutory accounts, which will be presented for approval at the MCA Board in September 2020.

The meeting was presented with the revised Code of Corporate Governance.

It was noted the scope of SCR’s governance and internal control framework spans the whole of the organisation’s activities and, as recommended in the CIPFA/SOLACE Framework Delivering Good Governance in Local Government 2016, as described in SCR’s local Code of Corporate Governance.

It was noted the Code stands as the overall statement of the Mayoral Combined Authority’s and Local Enterprise Partnership corporate governance principles and commitment.

It was noted the Code demonstrates that the MCA and LEP’s governance

arrangements comply with the core and sub-principles contained in the Framework.

RESOLVED, that the Authority approves the revised Code of Corporate Governance.

Provided for information.

Item taken in the absence of the public and press.

RESOLVED, Members agreed with the recommendations within the report.